Page 117 - DENG105_ELECTIVE_ENGLISH_II

Elective English–II

Notes Hotly, Ghisu said, “I’m telling you, she’ll have a shroud. Why don’t you trust me?”

“Why don’t you tell me who’s going to give it?”
“The same people who gave us this one! Though, this time, we’re not going to see the cash.”

As the darkness deepened and the light of the stars grew brighter, so the bar grew more
radiant. Some sang, some prattled, some embraced their companions, some pressed a cup to
their friends’ lips. The atmosphere was heady, the air intoxicating. So many came here and got
high on a single sip. More than the drink, it was the air that got them drunk. They came,
drawn there by the drudgery of living and, for a short while, they forgot whether they were
alive or dead. Or neither.
Meanwhile, father and son tippled away happily. Everyone was staring at them. How favoured
by fortune they were—they had an entire bottle between them. Having eaten his fill, Madhav
gave the left-over puris to a beggar who had been watching them with hungry eyes. And, for
the first time in his life, he felt the pride, the pleasure, the exultation of giving.

Task What is real name of Premchand?
Ghisu said, “Here. Eat it all. And bless us! The one who earned this is dead. But your blessings
will surely reach her. Bless her with every part of your being, this is hard-earned money.”
Madhav gazed up at the sky again and said, “She’ll go to heaven, father. She’ll be the queen
of heaven!”
Ghisu stood up and, swimming as he was through waves of joy, said, “Son, she’s going to
heaven. She never bothered anyone, never hassled anyone. She’s fulfilled the biggest wish of
our lives by dying. If she doesn’t go to heaven, you think those fat cats will, those guys who
loot the poor with both hands and then bathe in the Ganga and make offerings of holy water
in temples to wash off their sins?”
But this rush of piety soon passed, for impermanence is the essence of intoxication. Sadness
and despair crept in. Madhav said, “But father, she suffered a lot in her life. She endured so
much before she died.” He covered his eyes with his hands and began to weep, shrieking
more and more loudly.
Ghisu reassured him, “Why are you crying, son? Be glad for her – she’s been freed from this
world of illusion, she’s been released from the cage. She’s the lucky one, she’s already broken
the bonds that tie us to the world.”

And then, they stood there, both of them, and started to sing loudly, “Liar! Why do you lower
your eyes, you liar?” They began to dance. They leaped, they jumped, they wriggled their
hips, they even fell. They expressed emotion with their eyes, they acted out feelings and,
finally, they surrendered to their drunkenness and slumped down in a heap.

9.2 Analysis

I
About the story ‘The Shroud’ places before the reader two of the most unappealing characters
to be found in fiction: Ghisu and Madhav, a father and son who are poor and lazy, uncaring
about their own welfare as well as that of their ‘family’: in this case Madhav’s wife, Budhiya,
who when the story starts is in the throes of labour with no help at hand.

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